Audio processors are sophisticated pieces of computer-controlled equipment that allow sound engineers to configure how sound is received and distributed in a space. Such equipment can be used in business establishments, bars, restaurants, conference rooms, concert halls, churches, government chambers or any other location where it is desired to receive audio inputs from a source and deliver it to one or more speakers for people to hear. One example of an audio processing system is the Q-Sys Core™ system available from QSC Audio Products, LLC.—the assignee of the present application.
A simplified representation of the Q-Sys Core system is shown in FIG. 1. The system 10 includes an audio processing core 20 that includes one or more central processing units 22 and audio processors 24 that can be implemented with programmable microprocessors or digital signal processors (DSPs). The audio processor 24 receives input audio signals from a number of audio input circuits 26 that condition the signals to have the proper level and if the signals received are in analog form, to convert the signals to corresponding digital signals with analog-to-digital converters. The audio signals are processed in the audio processor 24 and supplied to a selected audio output circuit 28 that may include an amplifier. The audio input signals are received from any number of input audio sources 40 including microphones 40a-40c, streamed audio signals from a network 40d including the Internet, digital music sources such as CD players 40e or MP3 players 40f. In addition, input signals can be received from satellite or cable television sources 40g or from a telephone 40h. As will be appreciated, other audio sources are also possible. Each of the audio sources is connected to the audio processor 20 through an input jack 30. The output audio signals are supplied via the audio processor's output jacks 32 to speakers 50a, 50b either directly or through additional amplifiers 60. Alternatively, the output audio signals can be transmitted on a network to other types of audio equipment (not shown). An audio engineer or IT technician is able to control how the audio signals are processed, combined and routed with software operating on the computer system 36.
One of the challenges in building audio processors 20 of the type shown in FIG. 1 is responding to customer demands for different numbers of inputs and outputs. One customer who is designing a large conference room may want a system with 16 microphone inputs and 8 speaker outputs, etc. Another customer designing a restaurant may want 4 signal inputs and 20 speaker outputs. In order to build systems to customer specifications large numbers of different input and output configurations must be kept in inventory.
Given this problem, there is a need for a way to simplify the design of the audio processor while still giving customers flexibility in how the system can be used.